The GOP Doesn't Reflect America

- by Michael Moore



Michael Moore. The Anti-Coulter. No spewing, slithering, deep-rooted Coulter hate permeating the USA Today convention update column. Showing that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar douche. No matter your political persuasion, his article today is worth reading. An excerpt...



"I've often found that if I go down the list of "liberal" issues with people who say they're Republican, they are quite liberal and not in sync with the Republicans who run the country. Most don't want America to be the world's police officer and prefer peace to war. They applaud civil rights, believe all Americans should have health insurance and think assault weapons should be banned. Though they may personally oppose abortion, they usually don't think the government has the right to tell a women what to do with her body.



There's a name for these Republicans: RINOs or Republican In Name Only. They possess a liberal, open mind and don't believe in creating a worse life for anyone else."



[more »]



Republicans: Don't forget to vote November 3.

Read more...

We've decided to let Skyler (16) go to Raleigh, about 200 miles away, to Ozzfest Tuesday. It starts at 9:30 am and goes straight through til 11:00 pm. She'll stay overnight in a hotel with her best friend, Jessica, and Jess's Mother who are family friends we've known forever. That was the deal clincher. Believe it. And they'll all have their cell phones with them, if needed. My husband and I both told her not to drink anything after anyone. I've been jackpotted like that a few times long ago. Weighing it over, I can't really think of why I shouldn't let her go. Because she's growing up way too fast and I just don't want her to? Because I'd rather she stays home til she's 44, alone, with a lap full of catnip saying, 'Here, kitty, kitty, kitty'? She'll be fine.



Pagans Gotta Protest, Too. Live Protest from the RNC. Phoning it in. Literally.



Have a good Monday.

Read more...

RNC Schedule

New York, NY

6:00 PM - Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell

6:30 PM - Pledge of Allegiance

6:35 PM - Ceremonial Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd Amendment)

6:45 PM - Salute to the Coalition of the Willing

6:46 PM - Seminar #1: Katherine Harris on "Are Elections Really Necessary?"

7:30 PM - Announcement: Lincoln Memorial Renamed for Ronald Reagan

7:35 PM - Trent Lott-Re-segregation in the 21st Century

7:40 PM - EPA Address #1: Mercury: It's What's for Dinner

8:00 PM - Vote on which country to invade next

8:10 PM - Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh

8:15 PM - John Ashcroft Lecture: The Homos Are After Your Children

8:30 PM - Round table discussion on reproductive rights (men only)

8:50 PM - Seminar #2: Corporations: The Government of the Future

9:00 PM - Condi Rice sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"

9:05 PM - Phyllis Schlafly speaks on "Why Women Shouldn't Be Leaders"

9:10 PM - EPA Address #2: Trees: The Real Cause of Forest Fires

9:30 PM - break for secret meetings

10:00 PM - Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas

10:15 PM - Karl Rove Lecture: Doublespeak Made Simple

10:30 PM - Rumsfeld Lecture/Demonstration: How to Squint and Talk Macho Even When You Feel Squishy Inside

10:35 PM - Bush demonstration of trademark "deer in headlights" stare

10:40 PM - John Ashcroft Demonstration: New Mandatory Kevlar Chastity Belt

10:45 PM - GOP's Tribute to Tokenism, featuring Colin Powell & Condi Rice

10:46 PM - Ann Coulter's Tribute to "Joe McCarthy, Great American Patriot"

10:50 PM - Seminar #3: Education: A Drain on Our Nation's Economy

11:10 PM - Hilary Clinton Pinata

11:20 PM - John Ashcroft Lecture: Evolutionists: A Dangerous New Cult

11:30 PM - Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again

11:35 PM - Blame Clinton

11:40 PM - Newt Gingrich speaks on "The Sanctity of Marriage"

11:41 PM - Announcement: Ronald Reagan to be added to Mt. Rushmore

11:50 PM - Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself

12:00 PM - Nomination of George W. Bush as Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord





A31 Coalition

Artists Network of Refuse and Resist

Billionaires For Bush

Code Pink

CounterConvention

Critical Mass Radio #

DNC2RNC Democracy Uprising

Gotham Gazette

Greene Dragon

No RNC Sound Coalition #

Not in Our Name

NYC Indymedia *

Pagan Cluster

RNC Not Welcome

RNC Watch *

Still We Rise

The UnConvention

Time's Up

United For Peace & Justice

Updates @ Indymedia *



* = Most informative

# = Live broadcasting



FYI: WABC-TV, in New York City, is being broadcast live, when events warrant, throughout the week on CSPAN television.

Read more...

Is it just me, or is the way some of the media has used fear-mongering and scare tactics about impending doom coming in the guise of armies of anarchists in attack mode seem a little over the top to you? Like they're already justifying or setting up a case for an upcoming onslaught of arrests and showdowns with the RNC protesters. The die is cast.



I've seen this movie before.



The last feature I saw was just before the Iraq war. The build-up began. And like some experiment in mind control, we began hearing the same phrases over and over. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Sadam. 9/11. Evildoers. High Alert. Could strike on 45 minutes notice. They hate our freedom.



I know how this movie ends.



saturday morning me//

hazelnut coffee #2/krispy kreme #1/fatty #1/

tons of kleenex for allergies/

braids pulled to the side/fan blowing, so is he/

long "gypsy" skirt/white babydoll/bare feet-(what a shocker for a southern girl)/

Listening: Up The Bracket - The Libertines/

so how about you?/



Orgasm Donor.

Read more...

Build Your Own Bush or Create A Random Image - Link via: Witchymom



Read 'How To Score At The Convention' by Mr Sun. Funny stuff.



Isn't it hilarious how the absolute worst thing the Right has been able to dredge up about John Kerry is that he might sort of maybe have exaggerated some facts about his various Vietnam medals and acts of and valor and deeds of astounding heroism, which is sort of like saying well sure you saved 10 babies from that burning building, but jeez, you were wearing special shoes at the time and by the way couldn't you have saved 11? Traitor! Link



Overworked and Underlaid.

Read more...

Ray Caesar has added a few new paintings on his site. Link {via: bOINGbOING}



And a daily dairy written by artist, Jeff Soto can be found at Fecal Face. {via: wooster collective}



Here's more of the good ol' art sites we've passed back and forth between the weblog community over the past 3 or 4 years.

Ray Caesar

Mark Ryden

Alex Grey

Gary Baseman

Heather Nevay

Dame Darcy

Dave Cooper

Trevor Brown

more?

All great, but seldom offer new material online and have really been done to death. Certainly by me. So, who's holding out on me with the good shit?

Read more...

Dylan is set to focus on significant and influential periods of his life in the first of three books called simply Chronicles: Volume One. Now, in a book his publisher describes as "extraordinary, revealing and surprising" and "a beautifully written, singular achievement", he is going to speak for himself.

The 304-page tome is due out on October 12, published by Simon and Schuster and will be followed about a week later by an updated edition of Lyrics: 1962-2001, a compendium of lyrics to nearly every Dylan song. Link



Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category, edited by Dave Eggers et al. (Knopf, 239 pages, $24.95). Anyone who ever loved Bob and Ray or Mad magazine in its heyday or Lenny Bruce will revel in this den of satirical-to-bizarre humour. Typical entries: Lefty icons Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn provide (unused) audio commentary for a DVD of The Lord of the Rings; Ezra Pound reviews the worst films of all time on Italian radio ("Bambi: Filth."). Most of the 50 entries are very short. Some are very funny, others a bit flat; none suffers from the great McSweeney's dread -- drabness.



Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Needs Funding For Research - Did you know that Hepatitis C killed twice as many people as AIDS did last year in the US. Go to Petition and Sign Here



John McCleary's, "The Hippie Dictionary" book is chock-full of pointed editorializing, slang and swear words culled from the vernacular of the 1960s and 1970s hippie youth, who questioned authority and created their own counterculture. I particularly liked this statement of his:

In his entry on Presiden John F Kennedy's assassination, he wrote, "It is interesting tonote that liberals are the ones who are killed in their prime, and conservatives die old in their soft beds. This world would ba a better place in which to live if John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther Kind, Jr, had lived to die in their soft beds." more »

NY Post Claims Weather Underground To "Wreak Havoc" During the RNC. A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned. (via RNC Watch)



All Stresses Out And No One To Choke? - Unload that gun and Check out the 35 Symptoms of Menopause first.

Read more...

I recently read that protesters are torn between going to Burning Man and RNC. Not me. I won't be going to either one. I'm still quite interested in both events. It just suits me better to keep it parked for now.



I used to drive, fly, or thumb my way across inevitable obstacles to any and all events that interested me. There never was any concern over money or shelter. You took along what you could carry in your pockets and stash bag. You did the best you could and left it all up to the haps. But it was also the time of 'what's mine is yours' and 'spare-change' in our pseudo-underground movement, which helped. If I had $50, I gave $45 of it away. Keeping it all to myself was crude and priggish. I even left the keys in my van with a note on how 3rd gear hung up, etc. If you need it worse than I do, then by all means. This principal only works when others around you are of the same mind. The whole commune mentality, I suppose you could call it.



What a gradual and unnoticeable change it's all been from there to here. Although a lot of those ideals are still the base of my moral fiber. Now, I no longer leave my keys in the car for just anyone to drive, extra bucks are generally not given away, and my hitchhiking days are but sweet, faded memories.

Read more...

"Political experts prepare for a Democratic victory..."



(Let us all stop and let that flow over us for a moment. Ahhhhh.



There's more? No! Lalalalala lalalalala; I can't hear youuuuuuuuuuu)



"...I defer to a growing number of pollsters, pundits and political analysts, all pristinely non-partisan, it goes without saying—Charles Cook, ABC's The Note, John Zogby, Larry Sabato and Time's Mitch Frank, for example—who claim that it's John Kerry's race to lose and only the creation of about two million jobs in September or instant, peaceful democracy in Iraq will save George W. Bush."



I like it



Link

Read more...

Michelle Malkin, who is Japanese-American, apparently argues that, "interring the Japanese during WWII was a good idea and should be applied to Arabs." In her spare time, she enjoys insinuating on national television that John Kerry's war wounds were self inflicted, then denying on her web site that she ever said anything of the kind. Lower than scum on the bottom of the filth pile we now have Anal Warts, Ann Coulter, and then Malkin. (via: the good riddance)



A brilliant columnist, cultural lodestar, and real friend leaves S.F. for NYC; we look back, trying to smile through our tears. Proof that there's still room for an eternally curious autodidact amidst the J-school clones, SFWeekly says So Long to Silke. More »



{Quote}

No man ever steps in the same river twice, because it is not the same river and he is not the same man. ~Heraclitus



saturday morning me//

ingesting: folgers/pudding pops/usual bottle h20/

popping: vit c/milk thistle/ginseng/lethicin/

styling: oversized white t/barefoot/chopstix in wet hair/

geeking: looking at new templates/

considering: daughter's trip to OzzFest/

listening: Patti Smith - Dancin' Barefoot/

so how about you?/

Read more...

Some of you may be familiar with anti-shopping activist, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. He is back, after saving your soul from Disneyfication, downtown high-rises, the corporatization of the mind, shopping-mall culture and the Antichrist. With a background in Theater, it's a big production wherever he goes, so I'm not surprised he's booked up solid the next few weeks with the RNC coming to town. To me, he serves the axiom of one person can make a difference and no matter your opinion of the righteous Rev, you must admit that he's the proud owner of one humongous pair. (journal)

Read more...

Generation S.L.U.T

A Brutal Feel-up Session With Today's Sex Crazed Adolescent Populace. (was released Feb 2004) S.L.U.T. is author Marty Beckerman's acronym for Sexually Liberated Urban Teens, and in this outrageous, chilling blend of fact and fiction, the 20-year-old author characterizes his view of his generation: hypersexual, emotionally vacant, and disturbingly tolerant of abuse.



This isn't in the book, but speaking of promiscuous girls, let me tell you about one thing that clued me in early on: I found it a little odd, as the parent of a 16 yo daughter, that all of the young girls wear thongs when they're 12 years old. Later I was relieved to learn it wasn't just my daughter and friends, but my nieces and friends' daughters all over the world. Maybe I'm just old and in the way, but no one wore thongs when I was young. And it doesn't equal promiscuity, but I see why some young girls may be mis-lableled.



The more I think about it, maybe I should read this book. And everything else I can get my hands on. No matter how great a relationship I may think we have, we're still a generation apart which is another say of saying 'I don't know shit'. It's going to be one long-ass ride. Link

Read more...

Now You See It; Now You Don't - Gay Marriage in San Francisco



It's such a no brainer. Our universal rule or statute should be "As long as it's based on love, it can't be wrong." It's been my creed or dogma and has always served me well. Years earlier I referred to it as "Whatever gets you through the night." This is not to say it has to be to your liking and something you must believe in.



It can be as trifling as my mother-in-law telling my daughter to sit up straight and get her elbows off the table. It really chaps my hide, but it's based on love, so I set it free.



It can also be as life-altering and controversial as Gay Marriage. Now, where is the harm in that? It's certainly based on love, as is the way with marriage.



Two by two last Spring, love and hope descended on San Francisco in abundance to claim their legitimate place in society. Many sent flowers, congratulations and resounding Finally!'s. Still others disapproved.



But we don't live by creeds and dogma. People do, but nations don't.



In one fell swoop this week, the California Supreme Court struck down 4,000 Gay Marriages. Just like they never happened.

Read more...

Suck the fascism from Madison Square Garden on September 2nd, 2004. Metaphorically speaking, our September 2nd project will be an attempt to give the sky a blowjob. Or to pleasure its clitoris - whichever way you’d prefer to conceive it. Our Cloudbusters will be drawing in fresh Orgone Energy from the air over the Atlantic, creating a suction over midtown. As we increase the orgonomic potential in the sky, we will, in effect, vacuum away the fascist energy generated in Madison Square Garden, allowing the life-affirmative Orgone to prevail over its deadly counterpart. If our theories prove correct, it may thus be possible to induce significant behavioral changes in the Republican conventioneers. Link (From the consistently informative mousemusings)



AOL now has tabbed instant messages. They're working on tabbed browsing (Like Mozilla) for their next AOL version. Smart move.



Via Slatch, here's Bjork's whole album online here.



Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Blog

Read more...

"Protest is a Privilege", says New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Or you can "Go Shopping." You say it's a "privilege"; I say it's my "right." Link



The next day, the Mayor was offering "well behaved protesters" baby-blue buttons, off-Broadway discounts, and tickets to the Museum of Sex, while four activists with Code Pink were arrested hanging a banner that read, "You Say Welcome, We Say Where? Let Us Protest 8/29 in Central Park."



In exchange, they must promise to obey city laws and regulations and pick up their blue pledge pin. More »



He can't be serious. It must be bonus to have such an idiot in charge of your city. Why pick a Democratic town for a Republican convention during one of the most hotly contested presidential races in American history? A ground zero backdrop featuring Republican basset hound Rudy Giuliani obviously proved too irresistible a photo op for Bush & Co.

Read more...

Wanted: Sleeping Space for Protesters. Hot Water Optional.



Casa Del Sol, a squatters building in Mott Haven, will house many protestors during the Republican National Convention.



Those seeking a somewhat more comfortable stay can go across the river to Harlem, where the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp expects to house 30 to 50 protesters at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, near the 26th Precinct station house. His guests can choose between the wooden pews or the cool tile floor downstairs. The basement is air-conditioned, but it is used as an outreach center, so protesters will have to be up and out the door by 6 a.m. The protest at the RNC is going to be uber huge.

More »

Read more...

{Magickal Mystery Tours}

Vincent Bridges is an historian, author, independent researcher and a self-proclaimed “anthropologist of the weird.” He is also a pioneer researcher in the field of psycho-acoustic therapy, a trauma abreaction technique using light and sound entrainment of brain frequencies, a pagan political activist and a world traveler, having organized and led tour groups to southern France, Egypt and India.



Formed out of a need for real Adventures in Sacred Travel, and founded in 1995 as an outgrowth of the Fifth Way Mystery School (be sure and look thru this site well) experience and as a way for our intrepid researchers and explorers to share their insights, Magickal Mystery Tours provides up-close and personal contact with the sacred traditions of pilgrimage.



There's the tour, In The Footprints Of Fulcanelli which traveled in June from Paris to Hendaye. And Nostradamus' Provence are but a few. His many books will take you on beautiful spiritual journeys as well.



My husband has always had Bridges books around and I finally picked up the Holy Grail one and became quite interested. Start at any of these web sites if this interests you, and you'll spend hours pouring over his many spirutual and literary adventures.

Read more...

This is a picture of a Face. But it's also the word, "LIAR". Optical Sabotage has a few illusions to challenge you.



Blogger Users: Have you ever tried out 'Quick Edit' in Blogger? I must have missed it somehow. I can edit my post directly on the website instead of going into the guts to do it. Link



3-Column Layouts - Link



"Are you a loser? I can't say for sure, but it's highly probable if you dropped $500 for this life-size display of Yoda ..." via: Recent find, Mr Sun, who breaks it down for us in his own deliteful way. View Pic



{Quote For Today}

Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. ~Edmund Burke

Read more...

Alex Grey ~ The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors



Date & Time: Wednesday, September 22 2004, 6:00 PM



Location: The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

540 West 27th St. ~ 4th Floor

NYC NY 10001



More Info: www.alexgrey.com



The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) is a sanctuary in New York City for contemplation and a center for events encouraging the creative spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, on display in the Chapel, are a series of paintings that allow us to see ourselves and each other as reflections of the divine. (Autumnal Equinox Opening)

Read more...

(via: people's republic of seabrook)





saturday morning me//

sipping: coffee au lait/puffing: cig of death/

messy fright-wig hair/house shoes/

UT (Tennessee) football jersey & sweat pants/

listening: Megan Slankard's Freaky Little Story/

wanting: cheese eggs & salsa, grits/

so how about you?/

Read more...

{A Dirty Shame}

John Waters has again crossed the boundaries of good taste and common decency and I love it. His new movie, A Dirty Shame stars Johnny Knoxville as a sex-addicted cunnilingus machine, as you see his tongue going 70 mph. Based in Baltimore, (where else?) it deals with other sex addicts and their particular afflictions. The release date is September 24 with an NC-17 rating.



{More Blogroll Notes...}

Tish, in San Francisco, reports on the justices ruling that same-sex marriage were performed in violation of state law is void and of no legal effect. The fight goes on...

Kane left us some good links and I got lost in The Literary Traveler. It led me to the Thomas Wolfe Angel from Look Homeward Angel, which is 4 blocks from Sky's high school.

Jenn reminded me that it's Friday 13th. It's always been a lucky day for Jenn and for me as well.

Mac is undecided when it comes to what to have for dinner. What to pick up. Where to eat out. What to stop and buy. I know all abaout it, Mac. "What do you want for dinner? I don't care...whatever you get/cook/buy is fine with me" is standard conversation at my house.

...may add more blogroll links if time permits

Read more...

{Around the Blogroll}



Happy Birthday, Nina! I believe it's her birthday; I have it marked on my online calendar.

Rori takes a dim view of the White House stand on AIDS where the pharmaceutical companies are concerned.

Thinking of Jack in Florida during the tropical storm hurricane alerts. So far, so good.

Anne has a hodgepodge of great links to pour over. A delightful webstop when you want something fun and fresh.

Shirl has a few days off and is getting some projects done around the house.

Kim posted a sweet crayon drawing by her youngest that is very well done.

When Karen gets stressed, she takes a Fukidol. For those times when life just blows.

Meg shows how to use drop caps when posting. And the hard work she put into the Mandarin Blogger Quilt is another reason to visit.

In that same vein is Anne's LinkSquare Project, which is not to be missed.

...to be continued



Haikus For You

The battery's dead

I thank you for jumping me

Fixing the car, too



Tired of bickering

I wish you would hold your tongue

Cut off in your hand





S.H.I.T. (So Happy It's Thursday)

Read more...